Access Control Cards

One of the exciting ways many companies and organizations are now utilizing ID cards is for the purpose of access control. Employees, for instance, can gain authorized access to office buildings and secure areas using their ID badges rather than keys. The benefits of this are great. Consider a large corporation where employee turnover rate is high: When temporary workers come on board, they are issued ID badges that provide them access to the company's facilities. When their contract is up, the ID badge can simply be deactivated so there's no risk of unauthorized entry. Employee ID badges can be activated and deactivated as employees come and go. Also, each individual badge can be programmed to allow entry only to select areas based on the cardholder's specified access rights. So in a government facility, for example, there might be high-security areas where only select staff members are granted access. Aside from the security factor, integrating ID cards with access control also provides a level of convenience, by enabling employees to carry a single card rather than a collection of keys for entry into different areas.

There are several types of technology that can be used for access control cards. Magnetic stripe cards contain encoded information on a magnetic stripe that can be read when swiped through a special reader. More convenient are proximity (or RFID) cards which must simply be waived in front of a reader to gain entry. Aside from controlling access to buildings and restricted areas, ID cards can also be used as a way to log in to company computers and networks. This process typically involves smart card technology. Information is encrypted on an embedded chip within the ID card. When an employee with network authorization inserts their card into a computer, access to the secure network is granted. For companies that require remote network access, this is an excellent option.

When choosing an ID card printer, it's important to determine whether or not your card program will be integrated with access control, and if so, which type of encoding technology your system will require.